Thanks to some gorgeously lavish full-body makeup effects by Rob Bottin, to me, Tim Curry will always be the definitive rendering of the devil.
Legend was Ridley Scott’s attempt to course-correct after Blade Runner pretty much tanked. Fantasy was supposed to be bankable and the studios were desperate to find the next Star Wars by greenlighting these massive practical-effects epics. Clash of the Titans, Krull, Dragonslayer, The Dark Crystal, and more were coming down the pipeline like Labyrinth. None of these titles were impressive hits, but it took the timid returns from Princess Bride and Willow for Hollywood to stop flogging that dead Unicorse.
So true to form, the film landed in theaters without finding its audience. Critics appreciated the visuals but nobody knew who it was for. It was too intense for kids, too twee for adults. It made about half its budget back and vanished.
For a while.
Like a lot of Scott’s films, there seems to be a version for every season. Extended cuts, a Jerry Goldsmith scored version, a theatrical Tangerine Dream scored version, some with narration or no-narration. Ultimate Editions… Director’s cuts… Mass Hysteria.
And because it’s a Ridley Scott joint, every few years another edition surfaces and a new handful of people discover what those of us who caught it on VHS already knew – that Tim Curry, under six hours of Rob Bottin’s makeup, created something truly iconic, even if the movie around him couldn’t quite keep up.
Each re-release brings in a trickle of converts who wonder how they missed this, freed from having to compete with everything else 1985 threw at us.
-Pop
Legend first arrived on home video this week in 1986, after a lukewarm April 18th US theatrical release.